H-1B visa: Just about 10 days before the administration is set to switch in the US, the outgoing Trump administration has again introduced changes in the regime for H-1B visa. Under the new changes, the skills and higher wages have been prioritised, rather than the prevalent lottery system that is used to select the candidates wanting to work in the US. Once the federal register is published on Friday, the new rules would become effective after a time period of 60 days, indicating the possibility that the new applicants for the H-1B visa in the next fiscal year beginning on April 1 would be covered under these rules, according to a report in The Indian Express.
The amended rules have been released by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and as per that, the registrations with equal or exceeding proffered wage as prevalent in the area of employment would be selected first by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
The DHS defined proffered wage as that intended to be paid to the beneficiary by the employer.
As many as 85,000 work permits under the H-1B are issued every year by the US administration, of which 65,000 are offered to those with specialty occupations. The remaining are kept for foreign workers who earned higher university or a Master’s degree in the US. Till now, H-1B work visas were selected on the basis of a randomised lottery system, without taking into consideration parameters like experience, requirements and demands or wage.
Indian individuals and companies apply for the H-1B visa more than companies or individuals of any other nationality, making Indians the grabbers of the largest portion of these visas.
As of April 1 last year, as many as 2.5 lakh applicants for the H-1B visa were received by the USCIS, of which 67% were by Indian applicants.
